radical news - Radical Housing Network

RADICAL NEWS

December 2017

The newsletter of the Radical Housing Network Issue #1

www.radicalhousingnetwork.org

December 2017

A TIME TO UNITE! Housing struggles across the UK exist, now, in the shadow of Grenfell Tower and the 71 people now known to have died on the 14th of June. The event revealed the gross injustices of a housing system that, far from broken, is operating precisely as intended. The housing question (and the social housing question in particular) now occupy a space at the forefront of public debate. In a speech in September, Sajid Javid proclaimed his ambition to “return to a time...when social housing was valued”, as “something we could all be proud of”. But figures released last month show the lowest levels of social house building ever in 2017, which together with decades of crippling housing policies reveal the continued hypocrisy of those in power. Across the UK, whether social or private tenants, homeless, squatters or otherwise, residents increasingly face harassment, displacement and ever more precarious, insecure and unsafe housing conditions. Now is the time to unite, to fight back and demand a fair and just housing system for all. The Radical Housing Network believes everyone deserves a decent home - and we fight all forms of housing discrimination that prevent people’s access to one. We promote solidarity and mutual support amongst and beyond our members, share resources, skills and ideas, develop alternatives to the housing market, build grassroots opposition in the face of the housing

Join the silent walk to Grenfell Tower on December 14th

crisis and try to join those fighting for housing justice together - across tenure and locality - to break the divide and rule tactics of the powerful. Our members are diverse - students organising rent strikes, estate residents campaigning against the demolition of their homes and communities, boaters and travelers fighting to have access to basic amenities, housing co-ops working to keep their land - and many, many more. This newsletter is intended to provide a space for these voices, to share knowledge and experience from housing struggles across the UK and beyond; to build the capacity of communities to fight back; and to imagine radical new alternatives for how we want to live.

Watch this space...

Inside

Land Justice Network ·

The new network demanding the democratisation of land rights

Stop HDV ·

Updates from Haringey and the largest attempted public land sell-off in UK history

‘Right to return’ ·

Frestonia and me ·

Myth-busting a policy touted by A personal account from the developers and councils alike independent republic in west London

RADICAL NEWS - Issue 1

December 2017

Actions, Meetings, Call-outs

Updates from the network Stop HDV The battle to stop the biggest ever public land sell-off gathers pace

Monthly meetings host discussion on the risks of cold - and fire - from unsafe or inadequate insulation, and related issues eg district or communal heating, removal of cladding, and sprinklers in tower blocks. With input from architects and residents. Next meeting December 7th Please get in touch at fuelpovertyaction@gmail. com for the venue (still to be confirmed).

Our monthly meetings are open to all and held every second Monday of the month. Next meeting December 11th For information, contact [email protected]

Help Us Build the London Housing Struggles Archive

● Do you want to help build a housing struggles archive? ● Do you hold any materials from a housing campaign? ● Are you interested in learning how to catalogue and digitise your material? Then get in touch! We have decided to try and document both the unprecedented scale of attacks on social and affordable housing in London over the last years and the amazing resistance people have been showing. It is fundamental to preserve the history of these campaigns so that we can inform and inspire more resistance. MayDay Rooms is an archive focused on radical politics and activism. Visit www.maydayrooms. org to have a look at our collections and activities. As an archive we are advocates of documenting struggles and preserving their histories against official ones, and as aids to radicals in present social antagonisms. As a non-hierarchical workers collective we believe in practicing all these together alongside those participating in the struggles If you would like to get involved in one way or another, email us at [email protected]

In July 2017 Haringey Council’s Cabinet agreed to create a private Joint Venture company, the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) jointly with private development company Lendlease The aim is to hand over 17 housing estates (including large estates Northumberland Park and Broadwater Farm), Schools, Health Facilities, Library, and 500 commercial properties to the HDV. The Council and Lend Lease will each own and control 50% of the company. The new development will be primarily private housing for sale, with some (un)”Affordable Housing” and fewer units of social housing equivalent to council StopHDV protesters at the Supreme Court, October 2017 housing than currently exist. A broad based campaign against the HDV has formed. • the public sector equality duty of the Equality Called StopHDV it has united tenants, both Constit- Act 2010 has not been adequately addressed; and, uency Labour Parties, a third of Labour Councilors, • the decision to establish the HDV was not taken Momentum, the Liberal Democrats, Trade Unions, the to full Council. Green Party, housing campaigns and Resident and Leaseholder organisations against the scheme. Both We are awaiting the court’s decision, but this may not local MPs (Catherine West and David Lammy) have be until the new year. There are plans to appeal if we lose. If we win the Council will have to consult and expressed concerns. take actions to correct its faults. In either case the imThe campaign is concentrating on 3 strands. plementation of the HDV has been delayed, and buys Firstly building public awareness, and organised op- us time to build the campaign to stop it. position among the public and on the threatened esIn the meantime the Haringey Labour Parties are setates, through public meetings, demonstrations, leaflecting candidates for the Council elections in May leting and information meetings for tenants on estates. 2018. At time of writing, the Council Leader Claire KoThere has been a focus on Northumberland Park, the ber had been reselected at a stacked meeting, which first threatened council estate. A self-organising resithe local party has referred to the national Labour dents group Northumberland Park Decides is growing Party for investigation. But in some other wards cansupport for a tenants’ ballot on the proposals. didates who oppose the HDV have displaced sitting In October the Campaign took the Council to court for councilors who support the HDV, including the Chief a Judicial Review of the decision to create the HDV. Whip. The process continues until early December, The campaign’s lawyers argued The Council was at and there is a real possibility that the candidates sefault because: lected will have a majority determined to stop the HDV after May’s elections. • in setting up the HDV the Council is acting for a commercial purpose; This is a critical campaign against social cleansing in London, and it is one that we can win. For more infor• the HDV and the manner of its development was mation see the campaign website www.stophdv.com not consulted before the July 2017 Cabinet decision; by Doug Thorpe stophdv.com

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December 2017

Notting Hill Housing Genesis Merger Class war spreads to housing associations as new merger threatens Notting Hill residents Campaigners: help us stop the rot! The hidden class war that has seen thousands of former council homes destroyed and people made homeless in the name of ‘regeneration’ is spreading to housing associations. We need your help. Few know about the threat to social housing posed by the plotting of ideologues from the far-right. Still less understood that it’s the very people who should cherish the social housing movement - the heads of Housing Associations – who have been scheming to abolish NO TO THE MERGERERS! the word ‘social’ from the term social housing. make all her properties ‘affordable’, driving her undesirable low-income or elderly tenants out. Effectively hijacking a charitable movement, they seek to convert valuable homes into cash. This ugly ListenNHH & Genesis residents have united to act process is symbolized by two organisations: Notting against the mega merger, which raises many issues, Hill Housing and Genesis Housing. Both have been including localism, accountability and transparency. selling off social homes and converting social rents to We believe the merger into Notting Hill Genesis de‘un’-affordable rents. stroy whole communities, especially where property prices are high. This is a near-invisible form of social Now, frightened for their futures, residents are cleansing. fighting back. Without support it is difficult for individuals to reBoth Genesis & NHH have strong ties with right wing sist. think tanks : NHH with Duncan Smith’s ‘Centre for Social Justice’, and Genesis with Michael Gove’s ‘The Many tenants have already been attacked with sudPolicy Exchange’. Now they plan a merger, an ap- den rent rises, illegal attempts at evictions and high palling act of commercialization. Listen to the words of eviction rates among the mentally ill. There have been Kate Davies, the CEO of Notting Hill HA: rent raises of up to 177%. There has also been a sly introduction of new ‘management fees’, even levied on “Those in social housing escape the realities of the properties that are effectively left to rot, with the hope housing market. They get access by proving their that ‘managed decline’ will force residents out. This is need is greatest, often pay little or no rent, and get leading to appalling, often dangerous living conditions. their home maintained in good order for free.” Leaseholders, meanwhile, are not immune: Genesis Both think tanks have executive members with vested has hiked bills for cyclical works – in one case by 800 interest in private property development. per cent. While publicly defending her rent racking by hiding behind ‘government policy’, Kate Davies actually lobbied to be able to end secure tenancies. Davies, who stands to become CEO of the merged HAs, also lobbied for high rents and to sell void properties without having to apply to the housing regulator. Her partner, Nick Johnson, invented the concept of so-called ‘affordable’ rents. Now Davies is looking to

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Residents are against this merger. We invite all Notting Hill Housing and Genesis residents, housing activists and citizens to join us in opposing this mega merger. by members of Listen NHH and Genesis residents facebook.com/groups/ListenNHH/ listen-nhh.org genesisresidents.org.uk

Land Justice Networ k Get involved in pushing for equitable and democratic land rights In 2016 the RHN helped to organise the Land for What conference. Attended by over 200 people, the message was that land affects all our struggles, whether it be for a decent home for all, to save community and cultural spaces, or for more green and open spaces for food growing and recreation. To harness the enthusiasm for land rights we have joined with other organisations such as Just Space and the Community Food Growers Network to set up a new network that will focus on challenging the fact that the vast majority of the population has limited access to and control over land. The network is based on a ‘Common Land For What conference, 2016 Ground’ statement. All those affiliated to the network support this statement through a diver- increase in the value of land should be captured by sosity of perspectives and tactics. ciety whilst striving for a system with lower and more stable land values. Common Ground: Our aspirations: 4 – Proactive Community-centered Planning 1 – Distributed Ownership and Control A good planning system should be based on the parAlthough a majority of us have a small stake in the 5% ticipation of everyone in the decisions that affect their of UK land upon which our housing is built, the majorilives. Decisions about how land is distributed and ty of land (70%) in the UK is owned by just 0.6% of the made accessible should be based on the key principopulation. Policies and practices should encourage a ples of social equity, inclusion and sustainability. more equitable distribution of land rights and ownership. People should have more control over how land 5 – Transparency is used around them – ensuring that ALL affected voicAccess to information is crucial to the achievement of es get heard when decisions about land are made. land reform. Information on ownership, land purchase 2– Long Term Stewardship, Not Short Term Profit options, subsidies, tax breaks, common land, public space etc. should be openly and easily accessible to The price of land has increased dramatically over time, everyone. leading to farmland being a better investment than gold and residential land being increasingly seen as Activities a pension pot, rainy day fund, or investment vehicle. At its founding conference in June 2017, a number Land should not be a speculative financial commodity of working groups were established. The Land Poli– it is a common good that should be managed in the cy group has been looking at how changes in the tax best interests of society. system could put a stop to land being treated as a 3 –Increases in Land Value should be Given to So- speculative commodity. Upcoming workshops will look ciety at how we achieve a more equitable distribution of land, including the question of the devastating conseIt is the decisions and hard work of society, such as quences of privatisation of public land. Another workbuilding transport infrastructure, regenerating commuing group is focusing on direct action. It is now organnities or changing the permitted land use, that lead to ising a Week of Action called Lords vs Commoners to changes in land values. The UK’s current model albe held in the week around the International Day of lows the increase in the value of land to be retained Peasant Struggles. as profits by its owner rather than returning to society. This is further exacerbated by the land tax and by Bonnie subsidy system that favours ownership. More of the For more info: www.landjustice.uk

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December 2017

Radical Knowledge

Analysis and Comment Labour’s Housing Policy

“Right to return” is a Con! Councils and developers touting the ‘right to return’ for residents of estate regeneration have consistently and knowingly failed in their promise. From soaring rents to exemption clauses, communities have been destroyed as people are forced to live miles from their friends, family and workplaces. Check! Does this policy safeguard your rights?

Northumberland Park Decides Haringey Council tells council tenants, housing association tenants and home owners there’s a right to return if our homes are demolished by the HDV or / Lendlease. But their “right to return” promise is a Con. The HDV has an exclusion from Council policy on right to return (they say a “single move” is more important), and HDV plans do not allow for the rehousing of housing association tenants. Love Lane supposedly has a full right of return. But Council tenants are being moved away permanently. 70% have already gone. At Love Lane, Right to Return means the Right to Leave. On 6 May, Haringey Council took residents from Northumberland Park to learn about regeneration at Elephant Park in Southwark. Lendlease demolished 1,200 homes at the Heygate estate there, and tenants had the right of return. The Northumberland Park visitors were Gob Smacked when Lendlease officers said only three households ever came back. At Royal Courts of Justice on 25/26 October our legal challenge went against the HDV (the demolition company). The Judge has now retired to consider his verdict.

Join us to fight the regeneration of Northumberland Park Estate! We meet at St Pauls Church, 60 Park Lane, N17 0JR at 7pm every 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month WE DESERVE MUCH BETTER THAN THIS! TOGETHER, WE CAN WIN!

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Under closer inspection, Corbyn’s welcome words are far less radical that what is needed At the 2017 general election, the Labour Party offered a genuine alternative for the first time for decades. After 30 years following Tory housing policy, the 2017 Labour manifesto committed the party to renewed social housebuilding, and a brake on the Right-to-Buy. This is undoubtedly a move in the right direction, and better than any major British party has offered in recent history. But close examination reveals the manifesto to be less radical than many supporters expected, and far short of what is needed. In his 10 pledges before the election Corbyn promised to build 1m new homes in five years, half of which would be council homes. 100,000 council homes per year. But when the manifesto emerged the commitment had changed to 100,000 council homes “by the end of the next Parliament”. So the target was now for the fifth year of the parliament, with no specified targets for the first 4 years. Also “council homes” (which most would expect to be secure rental homes at council rents) had become “council and housing association homes” for “genuinely affordable rent or sale”. Nothing was specified about how many of these would be genuine council homes for rent. In answer to a written query from Martin Wicks (Swindon Tenants Campaign Group), Labour Shadow Housing Minister John Healey responded: “The exact proportion of rent/sale and exactly how many homes councils build will depend upon their choices once liberated from the cap on their housing revenue account”. When asked about how much grant a Labour Government would give to local councils for housebuilding, Healey said: “In real terms, grant funding in 2009/10 was over £4 billion. Average annual funding under Labour would be restored to around this amount.” This is inadequate. The £4 billion grant funding in 2009/10 was for a 3-year programme, delivering just over £1 billion per year. But at a cost of about £60,000 per home, the actual grant needed to build 100,000 council houses per year would need to be at least £6 billion per year. The removal of the borrowing cap on councils is welcome. But in 2012 the Local Government Association estimated that removing the borrowing cap would al-

low councils to build 80,000 homes over 5 years, only 16,000 a year. And council finances are in a worse state now than in 2012. Labour only proposes to suspend Right-to-Buy. This is timid. Even if Labour continues the suspension throughout its term of office, there would still be uncertainty about whether it would be lifted later. Any major council house building programme cannot rely only on what local councils can borrow, or decide to build. It will need planning with clear targets and an injection of government funding in excess of £6 billion a year, far above what Labour currently appears to be offering. It will require public acquisition of land, and to bringing empty properties into public ownership. Labour should also commit to abolishing the Right-toBuy. In the meantime, councils on both sides are transferring Council property to privately owned development companies. These contracts can last for up to 20 years and would further restrict the ability of a future Labour government to build new public housing. At its 2017 Conference Labour passed a motion from Tottenham CLP calling on Labour councils to retain “ownership and control of available public land” and “to cease disposing or transferring of public land, council estates and commercial property for the benefit of private sector housing”. It called on Labour to “support full binding ballot rights for tenants in any ongoing and future regeneration projects”. In his conference speech Corbyn backed this policy. But Sadiq Khan and Haringey Council have already rejected the call for tenant ballots. We need more discussion about what sort of council housing we want. Labour Councils have been bureaucratic housing managers. Tenants must have real democratic control over the management and design of their homes. Yes/No ballots are a start, but much more is needed. Labour’s new policies are a welcome start, but we need sustained debate, public campaigns for democratic council housing, and funding proposals to ensure they are more than just words. by Doug Thorpe - Stop HDV

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December 2017

Frestonia and Me In 1977 120 people fought eviction and won now 40 years on, they’re doing it again

Yasmeen (middle) and friends in the garden at Bramley Rd

Last month marked the 40th Anniversary of The Free and Independent State of Frestonia and as we celebrated, we also fear for our future… As a small child I lived in a derelict old squat. I didn’t know then that I lived in one of London’s most revolutionary places. I just loved playing freely in an epic communal garden and was scared of spotting the odd rat. It gave me a lifelong passion for community, justice and social housing. And a dislike of rats. Frestonia was created in response to 120 people facing eviction from the derelict properties they called home. In response they declared themselves a free and independent state, applying for membership of the UN and issuing their own passports. They became one family, all adopting the surname Bramley (after Bramley Rd) making it impossible for the GLC to evict them all. They were given a life line by the Notting Hill Housing Trust and became Bramley’s Housing Co-op who redeveloped the original buildings with consideration and consultation, and where many of the original Frestonians live today. Frestonia was built on the dreams of activists, hippies, punks and misfits coming together and uniting for a common cause. My earliest memories of Frestonia is playing with all the other children surrounded by corrugated iron and the broken details of once beautiful Victorian cornicing. Buildings that had long been neglected and were given new meaning. The message of a united community, a fight worth fighting for and the importance of filling unwanted space with humanity, was embedded into my soul.

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The original houses were demolished in 1982 and replaced with the current co-op buildings, in collaboration with residents.

I still live there today with my own family, a few doors from the neighbours I grew up around. We care about our homes and shared environment, we are truly invested and committed. This isn’t just idealistic theory. Here, we hear others, we know who they belong to and where they’re from, people are not strangers. We are a living breathing proof that social housing works. But now our homes are at risk of being eaten up by the insatiable hunger of the private market. NHH is no longer a “Trust” and apparently thinks nothing of breaking the trust of its residents. NHHT was born from the socially responsible Bruce Kendrick who moved to North Kensington in the 60’s and was shocked at the slums people were living in, often at the mercy of rogue landlords. Bruce decided to buy these run-down properties and make them decent, respectable and genuinely affordable homes for people in the

The Frestonia passport stamp was the hallmark of your visit

Brian Assiter, Frestonia Minister for Industry, with neighbours in the communal garden. Grenfell Tower in the background

area. He started with a fundraising stall on Portobello market raising a very reasonable £24! He put these properties in TRUST offering security for generations. NHHT were the heroes, championing our cause and working with us. Now they are quickly becoming the greedy neglectful landlords using changes in legislation to change our terms and their ethos. And most frightening of all, without our consent they have agreed to a merger with one of London’s most notorious housing associations, Genesis. I feel a sharp pain of betrayal cutting through our homes and communities. My dad was born in a tenement just off Goldborn rd, when his family moved into the new council estate around the corner as a young boy he felt like he had moved into 5 star luxury as they had an inside bathroom and their own front door. He remembered the Lancaster West Estate, including Grenfell Tower, being built. They were exciting times when people were being lifted out of poverty without shame, but with pride, respect and ambition. Making a society that cares and offers opportunity.

Somewhere along the line someone has changed the agenda from home making to profit making. Turning a Trust…into a Group…and then into a Merger. Attempting to take away pride and break community; exhausting them by lowering expectations and standards while raising rents and dumbing-down tenancies. What they haven’t accounted for is the spirit of North Kensington, where recent tragic events has awoken in us a unity like no other. We are all born from a community that have had to power our way through. I want to be involved in my neighbourhood because it is a part of me. Here there is a history, roots grown over decades. We are strong and refuse to go back to the bad old days. Our voice is loud and proud, listen…. by Yasmeen Arden Time is running out. Please get involved! Sign the “no to corporate housing merger” petition at change.org and follow the campaign at listen-nhh.org or find us on Facebook.

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December 2017

Our West Hendon Personal accounts of estate regeneration in north London

Ghazaleh, a non-secure tenant of West Hendon. Photo by Debbie Humphry ©

The West Hendon estate ‘regeneration’ by the London Borough of Barnet in partnership with Barratt Metropolitan LLP, is forcing residents from their homes and communities. The ‘regeneration’ is in fact a total demolition and rebuild of the estate in six phases, now entering its second phase. Social rented homes are mostly being replaced by private and ‘affordable’ homes, predominantly shared-ownership. Once completed, social housing provision on the site will drop from 76% to 11%. ‘Affordable’ is of course a misnomer with the shared ownership selling for more than twice the price that leaseholders were offered via compulsory purchase. Our West Hendon and Barnet Action campaign groups fight on. Over the last two years we have been interviewing West Hendon residents on their experiences of the regeneration.

Non-secure tenants have no rights to stay on this estate. I’m on my own. I’ve lived temporary accommodation since 2010. Seven years. And it’s like another kind of being homeless really. Homeless under a ceiling. You really don’t know how to plan other things in your life. It’s difficult. Looking for a job, I really don’t know what to do, because I’ve got two serious health issues. I’m diabetic and epileptic. I don’t like to call them disabilities but it exists and when I’m going to get a job I need to know where I’m based. I can’t travel for two hours to work. Really, some days I think I need to think about going somewhere else in England. But I somehow don’t dare to. If I was younger I would have done that. But now I’m 47. It’s not easy to start making a new life. Tenants don’t want to talk about the regeneration because it’s frustrating, its difficult, and they want to escape. Some think they’ll be given a better place but it’s not true.

Ghazaleh. Non-secure tenant on the West Hendon estate (left).

Jasmin. Resident and resident representative, West Hendon. (right).

I’ve lived on the estate for around four years and we’re in a limbo. I don’t know where I’ll have to go. To another regeneration, as soon as they can get rid of me.

Barratt have the upper hand. The council now is very limited in its power to do anything because it’s no longer their buildings, although it’s their tenants. They

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“It’s like another kind of being homeless. Homeless under a ceiling really.” Ghazaleh, West Hendon resident

Jasmin, West Hendon resident representative with her neighbour. Photo by Debbie Humphry ©

can put so much pressure on but the power now is going into private hands. We’re still based on feudal law where land and property is divided between the crown, the church and the barons. And the private companies are the barons. It’s asset stripping. They take away every public amenity that we have. So the clubs have gone, the nursery’s gone, the warden’s home’s gone. This takes almost everything away from the existing community, and partly gives to the new tenants while kowtowing to big business and villainous authorities. A new definition should be added into the Oxford English Dictionary defining the real meaning of word ‘Regeneration’ when applied to council estates. It actually means Deprivation, Despair, Fraud, Homeless, Isolation, Misery, Theft. It’s the re-birth of an unstable nomadic society in today’s modern Britain. The government are taking us along the same Circular Cowpath that they took us in the 1800’s. The Poor Laws Act of the 1800s are now being mirrored by the Affordable Housing programme, removing much more social housing than it is increasing. Even with the new block built here for tenants, it’s on a traffic island, surrounded by a road on all four sides. The children are used to being able to just run out the front door onto

the green space. Now you can run out of here and run straight onto the road. In the old flats you still see people on the balconies, in their front gardens or the shared walkway, and you just say hello. You start conversations. You see people. So people are constantly in touch. People who are ill could just open up their doors and wait for people to come by and say, ‘can you get us a bit of shopping?’. But in the new blocks you’re isolated. Once you come through that door, that’s it. You have to hope that you’ve already got visitors because you won’t see anybody from one day to the next. There’s no community. The Toads on our estate and their business partners are about to start shafting the next section of tenants, whilst the residents are just waiting until it’s their turn to be put through the mincer. by Debbie Humphry (housing researcher and campaigner) and Jasmin Parsons, a Resident Representative, West Hendon estate To get involved, search Our West Hendon, Barnet Housing Action

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December 2017

Radical Knowledge

Actions, Meetings, Call-outs

Freedom of Information Requests

Six month anniversary

An F.O.I. request can be made to a public body such as a local authority. Upon receipt, the public body then has 20 working days to respond.

WALK TO

Housing campaigners have often used FOI requests and you just need to head your letter or email: Freedom of Information Request for it to be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act. No special forms are needed and there is no fee payable. Councils are entitled to make a charge for the cost of materials if you want the answer in paper format and they can refuse to comply if they say it will cost more than £450 to research the answer. For more information visit www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request

SILENT GRENFELL TOWER Join us as we march in solidarity with the community affected by the Grenfell Tower fire

DECEMBER 14 TH Meet 6:30 at Notting Hill Methodist Church

FOI reveals profit making social housing in Lewisham Faced with regeneration and the demolition of homes and business premises on the Achilles estate in Lewiham, local residents recently submitted an FOI request to Lewisham Council to find out just how much of a ‘sink estate’ theirs actually was. The request sought to find out how much rent the council had collected from the estate over the past 6 years and how much they had spent on maintenance during the same period. With repairs and maintenance costing £238,899 of the period, figures also showed income from rent and service charges of over £2.6 million, enough to build 30 new homes on land owned by the council in nearby Besson St. So why are we demolishing these homes! For more information search The Achilles Street Stop and Listen Campaign

IF YOU DON’T FIGHT YOU DEFINITELY LOSE IF YOU FIGHT YOU CAN WIN!

London Renters Union Renting in London is miserable. Tenancies are too short, disrepair is common, and rents are higher than almost anywhere in the world. We’re working hard towards a launch of our first branch in Newham in the spring, and we need as many people as possible to help make a big success. There’s all sorts of ways to get involved, from joining us to knock on doors in Newham in the new year, to cooking or providing childcare at our events, to helping with campaigns and actions, to helping with research or graphic design.

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To get involved please contact [email protected] or visit londonrentersunion.org/

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RADICAL NEWS We are keen to hear from campaigns, residents, activists, academics - anyone with knowledge and stories that can help build the capacity of others to fight for a decent home. Contact [email protected] to contribute with campaign updates, analysis, comment, knowledge to share or events and call-outs

www.radicalhousingnetwork.org